


The Light

by aflyingcontradiction



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 18:36:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12282168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflyingcontradiction/pseuds/aflyingcontradiction
Summary: Everyone knows the mysterious glowing ship out in the harbour is dangerous. Approaching it would be a really bad idea. But as an orphan eking out a living in the docks, bad ideas are Alexei’s daily bread.Writing exercise based on a prompt by http://putthepromptsonpaper.tumblr.com/: “He collapsed against the stone wall and used his hand to block out the bright light”. First written in September 2015. Vaguely inspired by the Fallen London/Sunless Sea setting.





	The Light

There had been whispers these past few weeks. Of course, there was nothing odd about that. There were always whispers down in the docks. About sailors returning from their voyages with unbelievable treasures and even more unbelievable stories, about sailors who never returned, about royals and revolutionaries, about creepy artefacts that scrambled your brain if you looked at them for too long, about murderers and monsters and demons and all the other terrors that lurked in the dark alleys of the city…

But in all the years he had roamed these streets, Alexei could not remember ever having heard something quite as odd as the rumours about the Ray of Hope.

\-------------------------------------------------

When he’d first glimpsed the ship, he had just returned from the market. His pockets were jingling with coins – today had been a good day. A silly young lord with more money than sense, a few careless tourists forgetting to watch their bags in the hustle and bustle of the market crowd – and voilà, Alexei had enough money to feed himself and the other Dock Rats for at least a week! Things could not have been better.

“Man, that was fucking amazing, the way you just ...” Dizzy was limping along beside him as fast as she could, miming the way he had cut the lord’s silk purse with his pocket knife. “And then you just ... ha, yarr and harr and the guy didn’t notice a thing ... fucking nuts, man. I wish I knew how to do that!”

“Just a tip: Don’t ha, yarr and harr, makes you look suspicious.” 

Dizzy stuck her tongue out at Alexei.

“Really, it’s all a matter of practice. You’ll learn in time.”

“I want to know now!”

“Don’t be so impatient.” 

Dizzy was only just eight years old and had lived with the Dock Rats for less than two months. She’d floated into the docks on a raft. Apparently the ship her family had been on had been sunk by something Dizzy described as ‘huge and red and black and really slimy’. 

She had seemed oddly unbothered, though. Alexei had never seen her cry or even heard her whine. She had taken to the life of an orphan so much more easily than Alexei himself. 

Back when Alexei had been Dizzy’s age, when he had lost his parents in that horrible fire, it had taken him nearly half a year to even speak to anyone or try and learn how to survive the city streets. If it hadn’t been for the Dock Rats forcing food and water down his throat while he had been lying, curled up and unresponsive, in their den, replaying his mother’s final screams in his head over and over and over again ... well, he would have starved, wouldn’t he? 

So now that he was thirteen and back in his right mind - most of the time -, he took care of the newcomers. It was only fair. Not that Dizzy needed a lot of caretaking. A few more months and she’d probably be a better pickpocket than him. Maybe she wasn’t the fastest runner, what with her bowlegs, but she was the sneakiest little bastard he had ever laid eyes upon!

“Eh, I don’t think I’ll ever ... HOLY SHIT!” Dizzy’s eyes widened, she stopped dead in her tracks, lost her balance and landed on her butt with an audible thump.

Alexei grinned. “You really need to watch where ... FUCKING HELL!”

As they approached the dock, they could see a ship that had not been there this morning. It wasn’t particularly large or beautiful. In fact, it looked rather run down. But the reason Dizzy had fallen over, the reason Alexei’s jaw had practically hit the cobbled streets, was that it was glowing. It wasn’t a glow like candlelight nor like the bright petroleum headlights ships usually used to light their way through the darkness of the sea. No, it was an almost painfully bright, white glow that illuminated everything around it.

Alexei had never seen anything as beautiful in his life.

Years before the great fire, when Alexei had been a tiny child, his grandma had told him how many, many generations ago, before the Fall, the world had been bathed in a light so bright you couldn’t look straight at it or it would burn your eyes to crisps. People had let that light guide their lives. They had worshipped it. It must have looked something like that ship out there. 

 

\-------------------------------------------------

The ship – her name was “Ray of Hope” – stayed in the dock for weeks. Hardly anyone dared to get too close, not even the most intrepid Dock Rat. However, a few days in, the ship’s crew started to venture forth and that’s when the rumours started flying.

“They wear these weird white robes and they keep their faces hidden all the time. Can’t trust that lot.”

“Yeah, they give me the creeps. Heard one of them say something about having seen the Light.”

“The Light?”

“Don’t ask me. I got the hell out of there, they freak me out!”

“People say they got their ship to glow like that by making a pact with the devil.”

“Bullshit, they painted it with virgin blood!”

“Yeah, they sacrifice children on there.”

“You’re all so gullible. Everyone knows they found a cursed artefact! It gives them light but it feeds on their dreams! The barman down in the Medusa’s Head told me!”

“And what the hell does he know? He just likes to hear himself talk!”

“Did you hear they’re looking to hire crew? They said they were looking for a cabin boy.”

“They can bloody well keep looking, nobody in their right mind would ever go near them!”

But maybe Alexei wasn’t in his right mind. He simply couldn’t stay away from the Ray of Hope. Every night after the other Dock Rats had huddled up in their tiny shack, Alexei snuck out to stare at the ship. That light ... how could anyone possess something so beautiful? It was so unbelievably bright! Where did it come from? He had to know. Every night he got a little closer to the ship and stared at it until the image hovered before his eyes for hours. Late at night after returning to the shack, he would close his eyes and fall asleep with the curly letters of “Ray of Hope” dancing in front of his eyes.

It was this obsession that made Alexei notice something nobody else had: “Dizzy, do you think the Ray of Hope’s light is fading?”

“Huh?” Dizzy gave Alexei a confused look. “No way in hell! I can barely look at it, it’s too bright.”

“But it was brighter before.”

“Uh-uh! You’ve just been staring at it too much. It’s ruined your eyes!”

“Bullshit! I’m telling you, it’s fading. And the masked ones have noticed, too. I’ve never seen so many of them in town at once, and they seem ... frantic.” 

“What’s frantic?”

“Really scared.”

“Oh. Well, so what if they are?” Dizzy shrugged.

“What if they leave?” shouted Alexei.

“Then they’re gone? They creep me the hell out anyway. Besides, people say their ship scares off the fish.”

“But if they leave, I’ll never ...” 

It was in that moment that Alexei made the decision that would change the rest of his life. He couldn’t let them leave! Not without him! He’d never see anything so beautiful in his life ever again! 

 

\-------------------------------------------------

That night when everyone was asleep, Alexei packed up his meagre belongings and left the Dock Rats’ den.

He had barely reached the Ray of Hope when a thin voice from a dark corner stopped him in his tracks: “Where are you going?”

“Dizzy?”

“Yeah. Where are you going?”

“Erm ... just for a walk.” 

“You’re lying.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going to the Ray of Hope. I’ll ask them to take me as their cabin boy!”

“NO!” Dizzy shrieked. “You can’t, you can’t!” 

And before Alexei knew what was happening, she’d grabbed one of his legs.

“Let go, Dizzy!” Alexei tried to shake the little girl off, but she held on so hard it hurt, shrieking louder and louder. If she didn’t shut up, she’d wake up the entire dock!

“You can’t! You can’t! The sea will kill you! It’ll kill you! You’ll die!”

“Oh, don’t be silly. I’ll be fine!”

“YOU CAN’T! YOU CAN’T”

“Hey, what’s going on down there?” 

One of the white-robed crew came running toward them. Alexei tried to meet him halfway, but Dizzy made it impossible.

“I ... I want to be your cabin boy!” he gasped through Dizzy’s shrieks of “NO! YOU CAN’T! NO!” 

The man’s face was hidden behind a black cloth mask, but Alexei could have sworn he was smiling when he said: “Welcome to the Ray of Hope!” 

“I promise I’m a hard worker and … wait …” It took Alexei a moment to realise the man had said yes. Could it really be that easy?

“Your friend...”

“I’m sorry, I can’t get her to let go.” Alexei had to scream to make himself heard over Dizzy’s cries. He’d never expected such force from such tiny lungs. 

The man crouched down, stared at Dizzy for a moment, then with a swift hand motion stabbed something into Dizzy’s arm. With a shriek, Dizzy let go of Alexei’s leg and collapsed.

“HEY! You fucker! What did you do to her?”

“Don’t worry. She’s unharmed. She’s merely sleeping.” 

The masked man scooped up the girl’s unconscious form and turned toward the ship.

“Follow me!”

“Wait a minute? What are you doing? Why are you...”

“Your friend can come with us.”

“Wait, that’s not what I wanted! Let go off her! Do you hear me? Let – OUCH!”

Alexei looked down at his arm. A syringe was sticking in it, glinting ominously in the fading light of the Ray of Hope. Alexei’s vision faded away until all that was left was the imprint of the glowing ship, then blackness.

\-------------------------------------------------

When Alexei woke up, he found himself on a bed in a room lit by the slight shimmering of the walls around him. He sat up and looked around. The room was empty apart from the bed he was lying on. The rise and fall of the room around him told Alexei that the was not only on the Ray of Hope, but that the ship must have left the docks.

“Dizzy?”

The door opened. One of the masked crew members entered.

“Ah, you’re awake!”

“What did you do to Dizzy?”

“Your little friend? She is asleep. She woke up a while ago, but she panicked and tried to attack us. So we had to sedate her again.”

“I want to go home. Take us home!”

“I apologise, but we left port three days ago and we’re not turning back.”

“This is not how this was supposed to go. All I wanted was to see the light up close.”

“You will,” said the masked man and closed the door.

\-------------------------------------------------

A few days after he first woke up, the masked crew allowed Alexei to leave his room for the first time, but none of them seemed particularly keen on making him work, or, for that matter interacting with him at all.

Each day, he woke up, he ate the meal that one of the masked ones had put by his door, then he explored the ship. Most of the time he ended up in Dizzy’s room where she lay, breathing softly and occasionally whimpering and looking so, so tiny.

“I’m sorry I got us into this mess. I’ll get us out of it somehow, I promise... if only I knew what they want from us.”

It was clear, after all, that they had never needed a cabin boy. What were their plans for him and Dizzy? Where were they going? None of them would answer his questions. 

The journey to devil-knows-where took several months and it seemed that Alexei had been right about the Ray of Hope: Some weeks after their departure the glow emanating from the walls was barely visible and the ship had to be illuminated by candles and petroleum lamps. In different circumstances, Alexei may have felt vindicated, but now he was just sad and confused and maybe - just maybe - a little scared.

One day while Alexei was sitting by Dizzy’s bedside, he heard an exuberant voice from the deck shout: “The Tower! We’re here!”

He patted Dizzy’s hand: “I’ll be right back.”

Then he jumped up and joined what looked like the entire crew of the Ray of Hope on deck. Through the excited mumbling, Alexei kept hearing the words “The Light.” Some distance up ahead but approaching fast, he saw a softly glowing column that ascended all the way up to the sky ... and seemed to pass through a hole in it. But ... that was impossible! Nothing could touch the sky, let alone pass through it! Everybody knew the sky was untouchable!

“Ah, boy! There you are! I was just about to go looking for you. The day has come.” 

“The day?” Alexei asked the masked one who had just appeared at his shoulder.

“You’re going to see the Light! You and your little friend.”

One of the masked ones was carrying Dizzy over to the crowd.

“Do you think the Bringer will accept her?” another masked one whispered. “She’s not exactly healthy or willing.”

“But the boy is and she only demanded one sacrifice. Imagine how much light she will give us for two!”

“Hold on. Sacrifice? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, not to worry, boy, not to worry.”

“What are you going to do to us?” 

“Bring you to the Light.” 

“What if we don’t want to go?” Alexei screamed and made a grab for Dizzy, but one of the masked ones caught his arm with ease and twisted it so hard Alexei was forced to his knees.

“This is what you signed up for when you said you wanted to be our cabin boy. You made your choice months ago.”

“But Dizzy never got a choice!” Alexei sobbed.

Nobody answered. Instead, the man holding him down suddenly jabbed something into his arm. Alexei tried to fight the fuzziness, but it was too strong.

\-------------------------------------------------

He woke up on what felt like a hard stone floor. Dizzy was huddled up next to him.

“A-alexei, where are we?”

“Dizzy! You’re awake! Oh, thank God!”

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” 

They seemed to be stuck in some sort of round stone chamber. The walls surrounding them were so close Alexei feared they might crush them at any moment, but the ceiling of the chamber seemed miles away. 

From far away, Alexei heard a strange chant.

“Alexei, I can’t get up.” Dizzy sobbed.

“It’s okay, you’ve just slept for too long, your legs aren’t used to standing anymore,” Alexei whispered. “It’s going to be okay.”

He could make out some parts of the chant: “Bringer of Light, we have delivered your sacrifice!” 

“NO! LET US OUT!” Alexei pushed himself to his feet and started pounding on the stone walls.

“Bringer of Light, open your bright eyes and look upon us.” 

Dizzy started to cry.

“Bringer of Light, your sacrifice awaits.”

Suddenly a booming voice filled the stone chamber, bouncing off the walls: “Did they come willingly to the light?”

“Yes, they did!”

“NO!” Alexei shouted. “Please, please let us go.” 

Dizzy grabbed his leg. Her arms seemed so weak now.

“Please! She’s only here because of me. She never wanted to come.” Alexei sobbed.   
The voice boomed again, making the stone chamber shake: “Then so be it! Close your eyes to receive the light.”

“No, please.”

“Close your eyes. Now,” whispered an urgent voice that seemed to come right from behind Alexei. He whirled around, but nobody was there.

“Please, let us out!”

And suddenly, the ceiling of the chamber opened and the whole place was filled with light, so, so bright, much brighter than the Ray of Hope, much brighter than anything Alexei could have ever imagined. So bright it hurt! He collapsed against the stone wall, and used his hand to block out the bright light. His eyes had snapped shut of their own accord, but the light penetrated his eyelids.

“Dizzy! Close your eyes!” He shouted. With one arm he grabbed his friend and pulled her close, rested her head against his leg.

Then the floor started moving.

\-------------------------------------------------

Maybe Alexei had fainted, because the next thing he remembered was lying in a warm, soft bed with a strange, regular beeping in one of his ears and an angry voice on his other side shouting at somebody: “You almost blew it all!”

“Oh, come on, I just didn’t ...”

“You didn’t even wait until they had their eyes closed! You could have blinded them! Permanently!”

“I didn’t see on the screen, okay?”

“That’s because you didn’t look, you dolt. I don’t know why Dr. Sladek lets you do anything!”

“Well, you’re the one that decided to give it the go ahead, even though these kids clearly didn’t want to come. Way to torture a bunch of tiny children!”

“You know what these cultists are like! If we hadn’t transported them up here, they might have tossed them into the sea instead!”

“Oh, shut up, you’re just making excuses. Dr. Sladek said ex-pli-cit-ly...”

“Shush, he’s waking up.”

Alexei opened his eyes. The room seemed so bright. There was no way this place was being lit the usual way. There was no candle or petroleum lamp this bright! 

On his right, Dizzy was lying in a bed. Colourful strings were connecting her arms and legs with weird boxes emitting strange beeps and ever-changing images. It was an odd sight, but Dizzy seemed to be breathing calmly and there was a little smile on her face. She looked so tiny and so peaceful.

He turned his head. Two women were standing on his other side, smiling down at him. They were clad all in white, but they weren’t wearing masks like the Ray of Hope’s crew. One of them was wearing a strange metal frame on her face, though. But both of them looked so beautiful. Were they demons? Angels?

“Am ... am I dead?”

“Oh no, no, not at all, little one. You’re very much alive.” 

Alexei moved his arms just to see if he could. It moved. Something weird was resting on his nose. Curious, he touched it. It felt a little like the metal frame on the face of the woman looked.

“Oh no, sweetheart, leave those glasses on. You’ll have to get used to the sun gradually.” 

“The sun?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that now. You have a lot to learn, but you should rest now. You and your friend are safe here.”

Somehow it was impossible to not believe her. As Alexei drifted back to sleep, he heard a soft voice whisper: “Welcome to the surface.”


End file.
